- Email: [email protected]
Case reports
Available online at www.sciencedirect.com
Journal of Electrocardiology 41 (2008) 83 www.jecgonline.com
Editorial
Case reports To me, case reports are like comic strips in the daily newspaper. After going through some of the boring stuff you feel you have to read, you look forward to a brief report, where just the headline or a single picture can catch your attention and provide you with some intriguing, unexpected, or even mysterious information, and at the same time, be relevant to you. It is important that case reports have an educational value and do not become just a curiosity. The impact factor, which is a measure of the frequency with which the “average article” in a journal has been cited in a particular year, is important for a journal's success. Because case reports are included among citable articles, they can have a negative impact on a journal's impact factor, because case reports typically receive fewer citations than research articles. This puts them in danger of being phased out. In electrocardiography, an observation from a single recording has often been the basis for important publications offering explanations for specific electrophy-
0022-0736/$ – see front matter © 2008 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.jelectrocard.2007.12.009
siologic phenomena or a description of a whole new disease entity. Journal of Electrocardiology, therefore, continues to consider case reports an important part of the Journal and will normally publish 1 or 2 in each issue, but we are going to be very selective in choosing reports, which will appeal to a larger audience. Because of limited space in the Journal, it is very important that the authors of a case report make it as short as possible and strictly to the point: • no more than 5 pages (all included), • no more than 8 references, • an abstract of less than 100 words. Preben Bjerregaard, MD, DMSc VA Medical Center Saint Louis, MO 63106, USA E-mail address: [email protected]
Journal of Electrocardiology 41 (2008) 83 www.jecgonline.com
Editorial
Case reports To me, case reports are like comic strips in the daily newspaper. After going through some of the boring stuff you feel you have to read, you look forward to a brief report, where just the headline or a single picture can catch your attention and provide you with some intriguing, unexpected, or even mysterious information, and at the same time, be relevant to you. It is important that case reports have an educational value and do not become just a curiosity. The impact factor, which is a measure of the frequency with which the “average article” in a journal has been cited in a particular year, is important for a journal's success. Because case reports are included among citable articles, they can have a negative impact on a journal's impact factor, because case reports typically receive fewer citations than research articles. This puts them in danger of being phased out. In electrocardiography, an observation from a single recording has often been the basis for important publications offering explanations for specific electrophy-
0022-0736/$ – see front matter © 2008 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.jelectrocard.2007.12.009
siologic phenomena or a description of a whole new disease entity. Journal of Electrocardiology, therefore, continues to consider case reports an important part of the Journal and will normally publish 1 or 2 in each issue, but we are going to be very selective in choosing reports, which will appeal to a larger audience. Because of limited space in the Journal, it is very important that the authors of a case report make it as short as possible and strictly to the point: • no more than 5 pages (all included), • no more than 8 references, • an abstract of less than 100 words. Preben Bjerregaard, MD, DMSc VA Medical Center Saint Louis, MO 63106, USA E-mail address: [email protected]